yes many believe strength. as referendum can. focus is turning to the key players in the campaign the leaders the media. will take the high road and rebuild haiti. we talk to. the first minister of scotland on his personal and political quest for sovereignty. aleksandr sound. thank you very much. so you have sat recently and this is your quote the political union does not work for scotland anymore hell scotland back and imperils our future what is so wrong with remaining within the u.k. . the first argument is a democratic one. i'm fifty years old for two thirds of my life

scotland has not had the governments we vote for for two thirds of my entire lifetime scotland has voted in one direction england has voted in a different direction and because it was so much larger than scotland we end up with a government westminster which is not chosen by the scottish people so the first arc of a sense the democratic one that nations in scope as a nation have a right to self-determination and the second argument is about what you do with that you see i think it's a pretty universal law anytime anywhere anyplace but the best people to govern the country the best people to choose how a country should be governed of the people who live and work in the country i think that applies everywhere and i think it's certainly applies to sculp what you're only fourteen months away from the referendum does it worry you a little bit that the majority of scots do not want independence from p.k. and for the last five years to polls haven't changed much well if it comes to

opinion polls when i was reelected two years ago by an absolute majority in a proportional system most of the scope of the boat three months before the election i was twenty percent behind in the opinion polls i ended up almost twenty percent in front in the opinion poll so i think polls change and usually the change in our favor what will change the polls as people get more information about this about the concept of the opportunity of independents than before yes how do we know this because if. you paul the people who say we have enough information we already understand the issues than by majority these people are voting yes so as we get more information out to the public of scotland then the trend will be a yes direction and we'd all love to be twenty percent from here probably would do

i think we're going to win the referendum yes we will think so absolutely when talking about the positive sides in case scotland gets independence it would actually hold ninety five percent of you case current oil and gas reserves that is of course if that's divide it geometrically by marriage and from the british. while the powers that be in london the old guard would ever allow that to happen but i do it less seriously contested the there's no choice basically because the rest of the north sea is divided on a quick this is the principle that you outlined if you were to divide it incidentally by the current jurisdiction the legal jurisdiction because scotland as a legal system even more scottish waters would be ninety nine percent as opposed to ninety eight percent so the medium lane has been the line for the rest of the countries about the north sea for norway for denmark but i would accept that there is no choice but to do or not basis and that point is no longer seriously contested

and of course there are difficulties in terms because we will that's a great asset for scola enormous asset sale and wholesale value worth one point five thousand thousand million pounds over the next half century or so but of course the liabilities of the united kingdom the u.k. is enormous national day if accumulated so we will have to accept provided of course we have a share of assets sheriff the national debt so there are pros and cons but the balance of advantage is overwhelmingly on the independents. you know i've been traveling a lot around here at play. in talking to people especially in the central part of the western europe and people there fail back they hear a crisis that they would be so much better off alone without this the regulations and constrictions doesn't depend is really make much difference for scotland if it is part of you with or without u.k.

membership or i think it does mean i'm in favor of being part of the of the european union i think independence is about control of your finances control fewer resources in the case of oil and resources in scotland but also control of your revenue if you control your revenue and therefore control your spending and how to distribute that revenue move the population then you are a genuinely independent country with independence which in the european union scotland would control one hundred percent all of its revenue base would decide how to spend its finances currently we have allowed control of less than ten percent of our revenue base in the scottish parliament therefore ten percent is not independence one hundred percent even independence within europe is independence well he want independent scotland to retain pound sterling right but if you continue to use currency without u.k. authority what scotland have a lender of last resort proposal is to have

a joint arrangement that had to have an agreed couple say union you know stanley is as much as couldn't see as it's been the bank of england was founded by a scot so we're going to see. lots and lots of things of the world to be funded by scots but the point i'm making is the ship comes at the present moment doesn't blow all the english it doesn't belong to george osborne the chancellor is part of the assets of the united kingdom so the point is quite simple we are prepared to take a share of assets and a share of liabilities in the way both these are huge but if of course he was to argue as he suggests he might we can have a share of assets of the common. couldn't see that by definition we don't have a share of the liabilities and the liabilities for the later kind of. the many international precedents for example the breakup of the soviet union will be newly independent countries did not by negotiation end up paying the national debt of the soviet union so the dead below still under the present moment if they are to

persuade us to accept a share which we are willing to do the new only basis in which we'll do it is if we have a share of the assets as well you can't of one with the other become of the bond with a penny and that is why incidentally that after a yes vote for independence will be no difficulty from london about sharing a common comes adam burke is the case second largest city financially in case cotland becomes independent could you see it challenge london is something you would like to see well i think that would be a very real possibility if england were to leave the european union that is a life possibility that it would relieve the european union i think the effect of england leaving the european union after scottish independence would be that many headquarter companies would move to scope i think would be very. opinion but you know that's a choice for the people of england to me that's their choice and their will just i'm a choice so you can see a circumstance where the scottish financial sector would get more headquarters on

the circumstance but i should say this goes five sets of very strong and very able and particular in the things it does best asset management long term investment trusts pension funds the long term investment or people's money or corporate money as opposed to the much more phonetic market driven. financial dealings of the of the city of london so to a great extent a skull should continue to do what we do best and that is to manage people's money carefully in long term investments and build up that special someone asset management which is proving so enormously successful this now with companies are melting and growing like aberdeen asset management for example but any major political transformation such as becoming independent from the u.k. in your case really needs a lot of spending how much would it cost scotland to be independent how much would it cost once got to become independent for will be no benefits scott mccaughey on

the ballot with the last five years just for example. in the last five years scotland has contributed more by eight million pounds of sterling relative to london than we received back again that is the the relative surplus between scotland and london. poems as well. who won one thousand six hundred disco so it's going to be independent over the last five years that every scot be one of those six hundred which. is not just about finance of course i mean the reason for scott becoming independent is not that would be richer the reason for scott mccartney independent schools a nation a nation should be self-governing they govern the feels better than allowing someone else to do it for them but it was a balance sheet calculation that's for. much in favor of scotian the public but can you tell me exactly what is the difference between the devil marx and the in the lead that you're proposing because as far as i'm concerned most of the scots there

saying you know we're fine as long as there's more power attributed to the scottish parliament within the u.k. plus when it control over taxation and welfare why go through so much trouble for much of the same not come because westminster wouldn't suit them. well fear they've said no to the rejected they say this far and nor they will not will not concede control over scottish or. major natural resources or will how to pursue the licensing for renewable energy which is we've got a quarter one quarter of the potential read in renewable energy of the whole continent of you from scotland and we don't have control over the licensing provisions for the amazing that resource to london will not concede that that's why we've got a democratic opportunity to refashion relationship with london know many things we're going to keep we want to control an economy we want to decide on or government but we're perfectly happy with the union of the cones for example we want to keep the royal family home the queen as head of state but then

a much the queen as head of state sixteen countries at the present moment it was scotland and that should be head of seventeen countries if you think about the history of scotland and scotland and england shared the same monarch when the scottish king became king of england for one hundred years while scotland and england were independent countries for all of the seventeenth century scott in the doing good work independent countries that shared the same monarch so that's a perfectly easy thing to do in the modern world still you do see that her majesty queen as head of state as will an independent scotland so will continue to share what is valuable and important the social union between scotland england source people can travel freely between the countries can visit the friends and families that people from london can come and work in in shetland and people from scotland can go and work in newcastle all of that will stay and remain as it should but we'll have control over who elects of government and we'll have control over our

finances and spending at least things other century. we're talking to the first scottish minister alexander salmon here in a satellite scotland we're taking a short break now we'll be right back stay tuned. that judges a sense on some. children the streets. that women kidnapped and converted to islam by force will be another layer of motives for the coakley christians of egypt to their constant use muslims future victims. the way of the cross.

choose your language. of holy week over the infidels they still sometimes. choose the the consensus hit close choose to give hints that invigorating to. choose the stories that entire life choose to access to often. told me my language as well but i will only react to situations as i have read the reports of. the players and know i will leave them to stay calm and comment on your point of the month to say it is mr k.l.a. car is on the docket no god. no more weasel words. when you have a need a direct question be prepared for a change when you throw

a punch be ready for a battle pretty well up speeds and little down to freedom to cost. free. free. free. free. free. free. for your media. free media r t v dot com. welcome back you're watching sophie and co and we are talking to alexander salmond the first scottish minister here in shetland isles scotland we're talking about why

scotland should get independence talking about travelling freely if you guys become independent as a part of e.u. you would actually have to open your university doors to all the british students who now pay nine thousand pounds a year does this this is where you could succumb to kind of costly for scotland well we believe we can maintain the problem to arrangement we've got legal advice to that effect but i don't and stella got more students coming to scott mr black. this year because of the policies of the scottish cup we have a record number of scottish students studying in scottish higher education a record number of english students fleeing the high fees studying in scottish highlands education under record number of international students studying at scottish universities and colleges so we've got three records all in one year that's a great thing for scotland for scholars reputation is

a great thing for the scottish economy so i'm not worried about having more students understood to scotland that we can maintain a common origin which was a powerful if we're at the present moment that's the advice we've got what do you make of the recent claims that the u.k. did. france ministry may simply designate their nuclear nabl tasting for as a certain u.k. territory in case of a yes well hole thinks of sizes and project fear of the scaremongering campaign that was probably the least successful in the only lasted for two hours so the ministry of defense briefed the guardian newspaper and then doubting street denied it within two hours of the paper being printed so that was a scare story whose life. was to our children and of all the scare stories and ridiculous nonsense that the project feet of produced that was one of the least successful indeed probably the most spectacularly unsuccessful pieces of nonsense why did they withdraw from two hours well of course they know the reaction of

scotland to the suggestion they would try to annex perhaps a skull and to make it part of even the even the most fair haven't in scotland if there is such a thing would find objectionable the idea you could annex part of the land of scotland that's why the a life cycle of only two of us is a scare story but what are you going to do with a because you don't want nuclear weapons but even if you wanted us to use when you can to deal with that part well we're going to ask for it to be removed quickly under safely as possible and the emphasis on board we want to move we want the timetable to be quick but we want to do it safely we don't want to we don't want to have any risk to anyone by doing so there are plenty of benefits of stately in english ports in the so very good and for. the difficulties not bear for the submarines the difficulty is that we supplied with nuclear missiles of course

resupply capability in both america and france and i think it's extremely unwise instantly i think would be ridiculous for the country of five and a quarter million people to have nuclear weapons i think would be an. helpful to the world community. it's not going to be the case that scotland will host someone else's nuclear weapons very few countries do that unwise to do that so trident will have to be removed it's up to the people of england the people at westminster to decide whether they want to continue with a nuclear deterrent in my view to be very unwise to do so i think it's the most phenomenal waste of money but i agree it's their decision but of course if they make that decision then of course they have to accept the consequences which is to feign some put it put it as well no the only reason that submarine so we have the odd it was his father we as the could think of from the the sentence a population there look scott was a peace loving country we want to cooperate if only in favor of nato membership for example because our neighbor saw the need to bot. twenty five of the twenty

countries in nato are no nuclear countries and so we'll be a non-nuclear country within the year but most of the countries actually strive to bring you care and that's why i'm asking that if you become a world leader in case an independence then you know you're faced with countries like iran or north korea who could tomorrow having nuclear weapons and scotland not well i have to say i don't think north korea. to try the threaten or attack scotland but let's remember the world has two hundred countries almost in it one hundred ninety of them do not have nuclear weapons and depending how you calculate these things almost ten probably half. openly some secretly i think i'd rather be one of the hundred ninety eight weapons than one of the one full with nuclear weapons and there is absolutely no reason on earth that a country of five million people should possess nuclear weapons this would not be

a good thing for perforation for the safety of the planet nobody seriously argues for that position i don't really want to enter into the debate a boat in with a nuclear weapons all i would say is this if you actually justify a nuclear dependent on the basis of a reunion to come then you wouldn't want to try to still win trident as a rule choice of nuclear system which frankly was designed by the british government to penetrate the defenses our own moscow that's what it was designed for it's not a deterrent against. or for that matter that's new that against the terrorist organization so if you were persuaded in england of the argument of having a deterrent against iran then what you would choose is a deterrent of that sort of scale that you go back to and all vulcan bomber or something you certainly wouldn't of a nuclear weapon system to renew it will cost one hundred thousand million pounds over this life cycle that would not be the deterrent you would. and certainly

scotland doesn't want to engage in the sort of nuclear poker politics so the u.k. recently placed top on a global soft power survey do you worry that you're going to be left out because obviously you won't be part of there if you came stations they're actually attributing to that and you know i think we'll do far better projecting our own image of scotland we already do this and what investment and we top the lead table not just for the u.k. but for europe as far as people coming in to invest in our country and we promote ourselves as scotland in terms of soft power when we don't claim to have we're not going to have vast ami's so or navies or bombs or whatever that's not what we are we are in terms of soft power in terms of influence scotland is incredibly well placed with a country of five a quarter million people but there are not far off one hundred million people across this planet who either are of scottish descent or have an affinity with

scotland or or have a connection with scotland in terms of influence so this pilot scotland has a great deal of influence which will hopefully we'll be able to use for for good for promoting positively the case of scotland but also for doing what we can in the way that some of the scandinavian countries have done and ten like norway for example in terms of being an honest broker to help to help solve difficult situations we'd like to do that we're willing to do that and of course to the start of obligations to those on the planet who have virtually nothing we already have built up an international development portfolio in scotland more disproportional snow but something with late to do a lot more off specializing perhaps in renewable energy which we have such an expertise in and water which we have a lot of. and therefore we look to. be welcomed into the community of nations as of the sponsible world so this is. what also the symbol of

terms of influence agreed. influence in terms of military power not very much but if i was offered the choice to be in the country with great influence or great military power then i would choose being a country with great influence what do you make of the b.b.c. coverage of your complaint having both in both places scotland and then the london paste operation i think. the chairman of the b.b.c. trust recently said he thought covering the referendum was the biggest challenge that the b.b.c. had ever faced. i think it has a difficult challenge and i'm not sure that it's getting it right at the present moment. broadcasters by the nature usually an out and find more balanced than newspapers newspapers don't have to be balanced nor should it but broadcasters have to be very careful to be balanced but the b.b.c. finds scotland a challenge because so much of what they report for example in the network news

that goes right across the u.k. and viewed this broadcast internationally in the report for example scandals in the health service in england as if they were the scottish health service which is run quite separately education difficulties or lingual is if there were educational scope which is run totally separately so they find it very difficult and we feel the challenge to date of trying to differentiate the debate and the position of scotland from the position living would only be that's understandable because you know the covering of country will feel more than one hundred eighty five percent of the people stay in one country and the other fifteen percent will still stay in another free country so perhaps they find it too difficult to challenge the law and said it was a bit of a challenge it's not one that they're beating us yet and finally have you considered and thought about what your position may be in case of a no would you resign would you stay continue fighting for freedom but i totally

interesting i been in politics for twenty five years or so a lot was one past the elections i never won national life since i thought we'd lost what i was doing on maybe the six politicians over. when you were an opposition and when i became a member of parliament at westminster we had three m.p.'s three out of a parliament six hundred fifty those very easy to be oppositionist to jump up and to be noticed because if you didn't jump up and nobody would pay any attention to you whatsoever. when you want to lead a country. it's to be positive to talk about the future to say what you're going to do a lot of people have and. you have to put the accent on the post of and you have to believe it with every fiber of your being so since. well before the west another one of the national action so the lesson of every national election and that

we think we are looking at the world we are approaching the people i'll take into the referendum campaign and one of the things you have to believe is you have to believe you're going to win and you have to believe it with every fiber of your being because if you are to persuade people if you are to have a conversation about the future you have to do it from the basis of a good to win this referendum and scotland will become an independent country. thank you very much for this great talk a great pleasure thank you you are watching sophie and co our guest today was alexander salmond thanks for watching and we will see you in our next edition.

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